The countdown to the College Cups
begins. The men's and women's finals will this year take place on the
same weekend. Each day this week, Soccer America will preview one of
the matchups. We begin with the opening women's semifinal game on
Friday in Cary, N.C., between UCLA and North Carolina. Both are No. 1
seeds, but they had to endure tough quarterfinal matches. UCLA came
from begin to beat Portland, 2-1, gaining revenge for last year's 4-0
loss in the Women's College Cup final. North Carolina also came from
behind -- twice -- to edge Texas A&M, 3-2, in a bruising affair.
A&M lost star Ashlee Pistorius
with a concussion. Later in the game, UNC lost its most experienced
defender, Jessica Maxwell, with
a broken ankle. Here's a look at the probables with their stats (G-A-P).

GOALKEEPER00 ANNA RODENBOUGH (Soph.,
Greensboro,
N.C.) 0.41 GAAGave way to former U-19 star Ashlyn Harris in second half of QFs.DEFENDERS10 ARIEL HARRIS (Jr., Holly Springs,
N.C.) 0-1-1Should start in place of injured defensive stalwart Jessica
Maxwell.11 ROBYN GAYLE (Jr., Canada)
2-2-6Found time between A&M game to play for Canada twice in LA!32 KRISTI EVELAND (Fr.,
Southlake, Texas) 0-0-0Leads all Tar Heels in minutes played.MIDFIELDERS17 YAEL AVERBUCH (Soph., Montclair,
N.J.) 16-5-37UNC's leading scorer and main distributor must be watched.26 NIKKI WASHINGTON (Fr.,
Mesquite, Texas) 3-9-15Speedster made game-saving stop on line against Texas A&M.76 ALI HAWKINS (Fr., Encinitas,
Calif.) 6-3-15At 5-foot-9, she is big-time threat in the air.98 TOBIN HEATH (Fr., Basking Ridge,
N.J.) 4-9-17One of the most exciting left-sided players in college soccer.FORWARDS9 WHITNEY ENGEN (Fr., Rolling Hills
Estates, Calif.) 12-12-36Tied with Averbuch for UNC lead with four postseason goals.20 HEATHER O'REILLY (Sr., New
Brunswick, N.J.) 10-15-35Only collegian to play for USA in World Cup-clinching win over
Mexico.30 ELIZABETH GUESS (Sr.,
Athens, Ga.) 6-13-25Move to offensive mid helped turn Texas A&M game in UNC's
favor.KEY RESERVES
Former U-19 star Ashlyn Harris (Fr.,
Satellite
Beach, Fla.) could get the nod in goal. If she does, it would
be her first collegiate start. U.S. U-20 Casey Nogueira (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.)
has been seeing big minutes off the bench in the postseason. Jaime Gilbert (Jr., North Andover, Mass.) started
in 2004 and 2005.Local
product Sterling Smith (Fr., Chapel
Hill, N.C.) has scored five goals and four assists.